Community Satisfaction Survey 2010/11

The City of Cape Town's Strategy & Planning Directorate commissioned an independent Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by TNS Research Surveys. This is the fourth year of the survey with the first survey being conducted in 2007/2008. The survey measures resident's perceptions of services delivered by the City of Cape Town.

The survey has become an essential means of understanding how citizens perceive the services rendered by the City's Departments.

In October and November last year, 3 000 face-to-face interviews were conducted with residents of Cape Town and 700 interviews were conducted telephonically with businesses in Cape Town.

For the residents' survey, strict sampling rules are applied to ensure that measures are representative of the population of Cape Town under specific criteria across the eight defined health districts and to this end, interviews are conducted face-to-face in respondents' homes. For the business survey, interviews are conducted telephonically and sourced from an independent list of registered businesses in Cape Town. Respondents are randomly selected to ensure a representative sample.

The research is usually analysed internally by Departments before being released externally, a process that takes a few months. The following initial results are released to give some additional information on the survey. It is good to note that the overall performance trends over the past 4 years have been positive.

What did residents say?

62% of residents interviewed said that overall, the City of Cape Town's performance was good, very good or excellent (up from 57% in 2009/10, 54% in 2008/9 and 50% in 2007/8).

62% of residents rate the City of Cape Town as good, very good or excellent in fulfilling its role as a public service provider (up from 58% in 2009/10, 54% in 2008/9 and 46% in 2007/8).

66% of residents rate their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as fairly strong, very strong or extremely strong ( the same as 2009/10 and up from 50% in 2007/8 and  61% in 2008/9 

Essential services (refuse collection, sewerage and sanitation, stormwater, electricity and street lighting) continue to be a relative area of strength for the City, except for perceptions around affordable electricity, over which the City has limited control. Water services, previously one of the highest rated services and still with relatively high scores, are showing some decreases.

Libraries are the highest rated service within this the Community Services Department followed by stadiums, recreation and community centres, civic halls and beaches. It was noted that maintenance of parks needs focus. Nature reserves were rated highest in environment and conservation showing a significant improvement from the previous survey. Keeping public areas free from being overgrown is an area needing some attention.

Law enforcement scores remain stable. Action against illegal dumping, illegal land settlement and noise and other disturbances needs to be further addressed (these were also raised in 2009/10 as important).

Fire and emergency services continue to be important to residents and have shown some improvement particularly in emergency rescue workers being well trained and giving quality and helpful service.

Health is a key concern for the City. Scores remain average to low, especially waiting times at clinics, but these services are important to residents. Encouragingly all scores are up slightly since last year. Health remains a National and Provincial Government competency.

Housing scores have shown some improvement but are still low. Poor perceptions of these services are impacting negatively on how the City is rated overall. Housing is complex and not solely the responsibility of the City.

Public transport scores continue to rise. Transport is a basic expectation of Capetonians, so improving these services should remain a priority.

Perceptions of the Mayor and of senior City management in dealing with City issues have improved - this is viewed as very important as these scores contribute strongly to overall ratings of service delivery in the City.

Residents' priorities remain job creation (significantly higher mentions than last year), crime prevention (significantly lower mentions than last year) and fighting corruption (significantly down from last year). Providing housing and having primary health care are becoming increasingly important. Providing housing is now the third priority with fighting corruption falling to fourth in terms of overall rating of importance.

90% of residents rated the City as good, very good or excellent in being a successful host of the Soccer World Cup.

In each of the health district's the  percentage  of residents interviewed who said that the overall performance of the City of Cape Town was good, very good or excellent are:

Overall Perception Performance 2010/11

• Eastern - 72%
• Khayelitsha - 52%
• Klipfontein - 46%
• Mitchells Plain - 53%
• Northern - 84%
• Southern - 59%
• Tygerberg - 76 %
• Western - 54%

There has been improvement in the perception of the overall performance of the City in the Mitchells Plain district; however compared to the top rated districts, ratings for Western, Khayelitsha, and Klipfontein districts remain low but show an upward trend. The City has noted this rating and is positive that this perception will change as municipal spending continues to increase.

What did business say?

80% of businesses said that overall, the City of Cape Town's performance was good, very good or excellent (up from 77% in both 2009/10 and 2008/9 and from 69% in 2007/8).

81% of businesses rate the performance of the City of Cape Town in fulfilling its role as a provider of municipal services as good, very good or excellent (up from 77% in 2009/10, 75% in 2008/9 and 70% in 2007/8).

81% of businesses rated their level of trust in the City of Cape Town as fairly strong, very strong or extremely strong (up from 80% in 2009/10, 78% in 2008/9 and 72% in 2007/8).

The City's service delivery of billings and payments and essential services continue to be those with the highest ratings and have remained stable relative to last year and 2007/8.

Areas that need attention are visible measures to deal with corruption, and better road maintenance in the business vicinity. Other areas of concern are the provision of safe and affordable public transport and there being a visible presence of traffic enforcement on the roads and metro police in their area of business, although these areas have shown significant improvement since 2007/8.

Electricity tariffs being affordable and water costs being charged at reasonable rates are major concerns for businesses.

The CSS and BSS are internal surveys annually conducted for the leadership of the City to gauge and monitor the perceptions of residents and business and guide the planning and implementation of municipal services. These results combined with the targets set by the Departments are analysed by the respective Portfolio Committees to determine the service delivery rates of the City.

Statement issued by Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt, Mayoral Committee Member Planning and Environment, City of Cape Town, April 4 2011

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